Construction News

New Home Sales Continue

The latest result for the HIA New Home Sales Report, a survey of Australia’s largest volume builders, highlights a second consecutive rise for sales in the month of November 2014.

“Renewed upward momentum in the multi-unit segment drove growth in overall new home sales in late 2014, a trend unlikely to be reversed when the December result comes through,” explained HIA Chief Economist, Harley Dale.

“Total seasonally adjusted new home sales increased by 2.2 per cent in November last year following a lift of 3.0 per cent the previous month,” noted Harley Dale. “Sales of multi-units surged in both October and November to reach their highest level since September 2003. Detached house sales dipped by 1.5 per cent in November 2014 and are not displaying the upward punch of their multi-unit counterpart.”

“Upward momentum was evident in both detached house and ‘multi-unit’ construction in 2013/14.

However, more recently momentum has been concentrated in multi-units in a situation akin to stage one of the current up-cycle back in 2012/13,” remarked Harley Dale. “The key leading indicator measures of building approvals and new home sales suggest this re-concentration of growth in the ‘multi-unit’ segment will persist into 2015.”

“A focus on housing policy reform would greatly assist in rebalancing the table, providing a further burst of growth in detached house construction which would at the same time provide productivity gains for the broader Australian economy. That should be a policy no-brainer,” concluded Harley Dale.

In the month of November 2014 detached house sales increased by 4.0 per cent in Victoria, 16.0 per cent in Queensland, and 0.3 per cent in South Australia. Detached house sales fell in November in New South Wales (-5.6 per cent) and Western Australia (-10.6 per cent, following a +24.8 per cent result in October).